Note: This program is specially dedicated for autistic people (8 yr – 21 yr) who are from families with financial difficulties. 此绘画班主要针对一些较穷困的自闭症患者，绘画班会分为两班红班和黄班，每班不超过20位学生上课，学生每月只上一堂课而每堂课为两小时，因此学 生可以依据自己的时间自由选择进红班或黄班。

To date, there are approximately 6700 people in this world who suffer from autism. It is known as one of the highest growth rates in serious congenital defects. This is due to the fact that the number of children being diagnosed with autism are always far more than patients with diabetes, cancer and AIDS. Autism is a neurological disorder that causes a development disorder marked by difficulties with social interaction and communication.

Everyone has his or her own creativity and imagination, which ordinary people may express easily. However, this is not the case with people with autism; they are unable to express their thoughts easily, causing others to have difficulty in understanding them. They are eventually neglected or even abandoned by others who refuse to spare a little more time and patience on them. As a result, autistic people could not discover themselves and lose their life objective.

Painting can help nurture one’s creativity. It helps to enhance the relationship between parents and their children, and encourage autistic people to make more friends. Painting could be seen as a channel to improve social interaction and communication, as well as develop different abilities for autistic people. Unfortunately, painting classes can be expensive even for well-to-do families. As such, poor families that have autistic children will not think of sending their children for painting classes.

Yayasan Nanyang Press wishes to create more opportunities for autistic people to learn painting and express themselves through painting. Painting would be used as a tool for those autistic people to express their feelings. Yayasan Nanyang Press has invited one of the famous art teachers to provide free painting classes to those poorer families with autistic children, starting from June 2013 onwards. Yayasan Nanyang Press aims to create an opportunity for those autistic people to learn painting.

Autistic people have been given a lovely nickname – “Children of the Star”. They are described as a twinkling star so high in the sky that no one could actually understand what they are thinking. The painting classes organised by Yayasan Nanyang Press are named as Children of the Star, to resemble their sparkling inner world which no one is able to understand. Through the painting classes, autistic people can learn painting techniques and to learn how to communicate with others through their paintings.

These painting classes would primarily focus on poorer families with autistic children. The number of students in each class would not exceed 20 people. The classes would be held once a month, each class for a duration of 2 hours.

In the meantime, Yayasan Nanyang Press wishes to recruit more volunteers as art teachers. If you have the ability to draw and to teach with patience and care, you are the one we are looking for.